General Assembly

The Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) met this morning to elect its Chair and other officers for the General Assembly’s sixty-fifth session.

The General Assembly today elected Joan Clos ( Spain) as Executive Director of United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) to a four-year term of office, beginning on 18 October 2010 and ending on 17 October 2014.

The Permanent Observer of Palestine to the United Nations informed the Palestinian Rights Committee this morning that the Middle East Quartet had just minutes earlier released a statement inviting the Israeli and Palestinian sides to begin direct negotiations in Washington, D.C., on 2 September, aiming towards an agreement in one year.

The General Assembly today concluded its two-day discussion on providing urgent humanitarian assistance to flood-stricken Pakistan, with some 49 speakers taking the floor to urge drastically scaling up efforts to meet the United Nations’ $460 million flash appeal, coordinate aid distribution with the Pakistani authorities, and — from neighbouring countries that had experienced similar natural disasters — heed what was indeed a moral obligation to quickly address the unfolding human tragedy.

With the international community only now beginning to comprehend the true scope of the devastation in flood-ravaged Pakistan, the United Nations General Assembly today expressed full solidarity with the Pakistani people, as Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called for a massive scaling up of aid and warned that fallout from three weeks of flooding that had affected 15 million to 20 million people was likely to last for years.

On the occasion of the tenth anniversary of Security Council resolution 1325 (2000) on women, peace and security, the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women wishes to reaffirm its commitment to the spirit of this resolution and its integral link with the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.

The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women today reaffirmed its commitment to the spirit of Security Council resolution 1325 (2000) on women, peace and security and its integral link to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, as it wrapped up its forty-sixth session.

The General Assembly this afternoon adopted by consensus, as orally revised, a resolution on the United Nations Global Plan of Action to Combat Trafficking in Persons, deciding also to establish a trust fund for victims, especially women and children.

By a vote of 122 in favour to none against, with 41 abstentions, the General Assembly today adopted, as orally revised, a resolution calling on States and international organizations to provide financial resources, build capacity and transfer technology, particularly to developing countries, in scaling up efforts to provide safe, clean, accessible and affordable drinking water and sanitation for all.

With the inception of a new law and the country’s first shelter to assist victims, Albania was strengthening its arsenal to stamp out domestic violence, the South-Eastern European country’s delegation told the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women today.